Professor Panikos Panayi's book Prisoners of Britain: German Civilian and Combatant Internees During the First World War seems like an interesting book. Unfortunately it is a little outside my price range, so maybe I have to find a library copy
Either way he could be the guy I need to contact to get more information.
Saturday 22 February 2014
Background Photo's
No more progress in identifying the names so far. It is possible that I could be wrong in expecting the names to be either Naval or Officers. It appears at some point over a 1000 men were held and even if they were officers the camp also held servants who most likely came from the lower ranks(This is a different time after all).
But as part of my research I did come across an interesting book called German Prisoners of Great Britain which showed the prisoner conditions in Donington Hall (among others). It would be nice to think that some of the names memorialised in Castle Donington appear in these photo's, but that is probably too much to ask. The book itself is almost certainly a propaganda item, but like all such material probably contains some truths.
Anyway I display them here for information
But as part of my research I did come across an interesting book called German Prisoners of Great Britain which showed the prisoner conditions in Donington Hall (among others). It would be nice to think that some of the names memorialised in Castle Donington appear in these photo's, but that is probably too much to ask. The book itself is almost certainly a propaganda item, but like all such material probably contains some truths.
Anyway I display them here for information
Wednesday 19 February 2014
Gunther Plüschow, SMS Bluscher, and Donington Hall
Started my information search by posting on Twitter and http://www.u-boot-net.de/ (A german Kaiserliche Marine forum)
One Interesting source that sets a background to the prisoners in Donington Park is from the only prisoner to escape from Donington Hall, a Gunther Plüschow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_Pl%C3%BCschow).
His autobiography is available online (https://ia600301.us.archive.org/27/items/myescapefromdoni00plrich/myescapefromdoni00plrich.pdf) and there are some interesting points.
1. when he arrived the camp was for officers. This may of changed in later years, but one assumption for now that is that the dead men are officers. It seems unlikely that enlisted and officers would be mixed at this stage
2 . He lists some of the fellow prisoners as follows "Some of the survivors of the Blücher, some from torpedo-boat destroyer:and small cruisers, and several fiying-men from the Army and Navy"
The SMS Bluscher was a armoured cruser that sank off Dogger Bank in 1915 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Bl%C3%BCcher). There were only 6 officers of a total of 29 and 275 enlisted men of a complement of 999 who survived. Also Among those who were rescued was the Captain at Sea (Kapitan zur See) Erdmann, the commanding officer of Blücher. He later died of pneumonia while in British captivity.[31] A further twenty men would also die as prisoners of war.[32]
Erdmann is not one of names listed, but it may be useful to see if we can find a list of the other survivors.
One Interesting source that sets a background to the prisoners in Donington Park is from the only prisoner to escape from Donington Hall, a Gunther Plüschow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_Pl%C3%BCschow).
His autobiography is available online (https://ia600301.us.archive.org/27/items/myescapefromdoni00plrich/myescapefromdoni00plrich.pdf) and there are some interesting points.
1. when he arrived the camp was for officers. This may of changed in later years, but one assumption for now that is that the dead men are officers. It seems unlikely that enlisted and officers would be mixed at this stage
2 . He lists some of the fellow prisoners as follows "Some of the survivors of the Blücher, some from torpedo-boat destroyer:and small cruisers, and several fiying-men from the Army and Navy"
The SMS Bluscher was a armoured cruser that sank off Dogger Bank in 1915 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Bl%C3%BCcher). There were only 6 officers of a total of 29 and 275 enlisted men of a complement of 999 who survived. Also Among those who were rescued was the Captain at Sea (Kapitan zur See) Erdmann, the commanding officer of Blücher. He later died of pneumonia while in British captivity.[31] A further twenty men would also die as prisoners of war.[32]
Erdmann is not one of names listed, but it may be useful to see if we can find a list of the other survivors.
The information I am looking for.
As I set out in my first post, I have set my self the almost impossible task of finding out more information on the German 1st world war combatants commemorated in Castle Donington cemetery.
This is the list of the Germans soldiers buried there *
This is the list of the Germans soldiers buried there *
Ferdinand Anacker aged 27 Ernst Max
Kozsche aged
29
Ernst Kress aged 27 Friedrich
Brasser aged
30
Jodokus Johannes Boghoff aged 28 Arthur Hampe aged 23
Carl Fritz Breymayer aged 26 Heinrich Schucher aged 27
Friedrich Leonhard Weber aged 25 Paul Emil
Mosbach aged
25
Rudolf Haller aged 28 Georg Werner
Gebhardt aged 27
Julius Richard Geiler aged 28 Friedrich
Wilhelm Hoffman aged 24
Friedrich Wilhelm Bernstein aged 25 Otto Horst aged 27
Wilhelm Johannes Friedrich
Helmuth 22 Christian Koppes aged 24
Osker Helmuth Gross aged 23 Walther Konrad
Lieb aged 23
Emil Golans Heinmuth Egenolf aged 24 Carl Heinrich Kaffe aged 27
Herman Niesr aged 39 Wilhelm Ernst aged 25
Wolfgang August Valentine
Hesselbarth 23 Karl Hoell aged
25
Anton Mastkeller aged 27 Heinrich Adolf
Gustav Corvey aged 27(Born 1891)
Otto Schulze aged 25 Erwin
Kazermaier aged
28
Karl Brauer aged 31 Lorenzo
Bischoff aged
24
Max Wilhelm Grebe aged 23 Otto Emil
Braymayer aged
26
* Information kindly provided by Castle Donington museum
Apparently Donington Hall was one a many camps in England holding Germ,a P.O.W. at the end of the conflict most were repatriated. But the great “Spanish” Influenza epidemic in November 1918 that was responsible for the deaths of over 50 million people also had it's hand in killing some of the prisoners so they were never to to see home again.
34 of the men were buried in Castle Donington cemetery, although later they were re-interred in the German war cemetery in Cannock Chase
34 of the men were buried in Castle Donington cemetery, although later they were re-interred in the German war cemetery in Cannock Chase
My 1st guess is that many, if not all of the men were submariners of the Imperial german Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). This is because it seems unlikely that Germans captured in France would be transported abroad and we have records of captured submariners being kept in Donington Park.
The purpose of this blog
I live in Castle Donington, England
A few weeks ago I was walking through our local cemetery (I like cemeteries, the residents never bother you). I walked round the corner and came across a large concrete like installation, separated by a grassy verge.
It was very weathered and it was clear that there was bits missing, but I had a closer look and was surprised to find that the writing was in German. There were a number of panels, but almost all of them had been weathered, but it was clear that this was a memorial to German soldiers. This was intriguing. Who were these people? why were they commemorated here?
Now I already knew that during the 1st world war the local stately home, Donington Park, housed a prisoner of war camp. So it seemed likely that this was something to do with this. I contacted my local history society who confirmed this. They even provided a list of names, but no more details.
This year is 2014 and there is a lot of plans to commemorate local people who died in the 1st world war. However I like to think that we should also commemorate our opponents as well as our friends and relatives. We can argue about the cause they fought for, but not about the bravery of the men themselves. Also if the town saw fit to bury these men with honours should they not be remembered now?
So this blog is the start of my attempt to find more information about these men. Of course I have a number of obstacles. Firstly I am English and do not speak any German. This is likely to be a big obstacle accessing German records and corresponding with people in Germany who have more information. Secondly the little research I have done, it appears that German war records are not as extensive and are more fragmented than similar UK records. Thirdly I don't know whether the Germans actually want to remember the war and may not wish to bring back painful memories.
Even so, I am going to give it a go. Hopefully the power of social media will help me. Even if I fail, just by trying I feel i will have honoured the memory of these men.
A few weeks ago I was walking through our local cemetery (I like cemeteries, the residents never bother you). I walked round the corner and came across a large concrete like installation, separated by a grassy verge.
It was very weathered and it was clear that there was bits missing, but I had a closer look and was surprised to find that the writing was in German. There were a number of panels, but almost all of them had been weathered, but it was clear that this was a memorial to German soldiers. This was intriguing. Who were these people? why were they commemorated here?
Now I already knew that during the 1st world war the local stately home, Donington Park, housed a prisoner of war camp. So it seemed likely that this was something to do with this. I contacted my local history society who confirmed this. They even provided a list of names, but no more details.
This year is 2014 and there is a lot of plans to commemorate local people who died in the 1st world war. However I like to think that we should also commemorate our opponents as well as our friends and relatives. We can argue about the cause they fought for, but not about the bravery of the men themselves. Also if the town saw fit to bury these men with honours should they not be remembered now?
So this blog is the start of my attempt to find more information about these men. Of course I have a number of obstacles. Firstly I am English and do not speak any German. This is likely to be a big obstacle accessing German records and corresponding with people in Germany who have more information. Secondly the little research I have done, it appears that German war records are not as extensive and are more fragmented than similar UK records. Thirdly I don't know whether the Germans actually want to remember the war and may not wish to bring back painful memories.
Even so, I am going to give it a go. Hopefully the power of social media will help me. Even if I fail, just by trying I feel i will have honoured the memory of these men.
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| German Submariners being marched up the Baroon high street, 1915 |
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